A coalmine explosion in Hongdong County, north China's Shanxi Province, has killed 105 people, and injured another 18, four seriously. The explosion occurred on December 5 at Xinyao Coal Mine. At the moment of the explosion, 128 miners were working in the shaft, more than double of the maximum 60 miners permitted in one shaft under the rules of the provincial work safety authorities.

An investigation team was formed on December 9 with Minister of the State Administration of Work Safety Li Yizhong as its head. At the same time, the Central Government issued a five-point instruction to enforce safety regulations, and ordered all illegally operated coalmines to close.

According to investigation results, the owner of Xinyao Coal Mine, Wang Donghai, sent 37 of his own workers into the shaft to search for survivors instead of reporting the explosion to local work safety authorities and the police. This delayed reporting of the accident for up to five hours, which hampered rescue efforts and led to more casualties than there would otherwise have been. Among the 37 unskilled and poor-equipped rescuers, 15 were killed by toxic carbon monoxide produced by the gas explosion. Wang Donghai and his brother Wang Hongliang escaped when they realized the situation was out of control.

Local work safety authorities are also allegedly responsible for the accident due to their inadequate supervision and management. Minister Li revealed that three local work safety teams inspected the mine last month, with the last one taking place just six days before the explosion. But none of them discovered hidden dangers that caused the fatal accident.

Xinyao Coal Mine is owned by Ruizhiyuan Mining Co., which was privatized in 2004 and had full, valid licenses at the time of the accident. The registered output of the colliery is 210,000 tons per year. However, the actual output each year more than doubled that number. Its output surpassed 500,000 tons last year, and the output of the first seven months of this year exceeded the annual quota approved by the authorities.

An investigation report also explains how the managers of the coalmine cheated inspectors. The coal mine is only allowed to dig into the second level of coal reserves, but in order to lift output and make more money, the managers had a shaft dug into the ninth level and made use of steel plates to conceal the real depth of the shaft. They even drew up false documents and plans to evade inspection.

At the moment of the explosion, there were as many as 54 vehicles operating underground without any safety facility to prevent the ignition of mine gases. There were also two illegally constructed explosives stores. If ignited, they would have produced a greater explosion.

The government on December 10 said it would pay 215,000 yuan ($29,054) in compensation to victims' families.

The police had, up to December 13, detained 35 people, who are allegedly responsible for the fatal gas explosion. The mine's business license has been revoked and its bank accounts frozen. The Ministry of Public Security launched a manhunt on December 11 for Wang Donghai and Wang Hongliang.

This coalmine explosion is China's second deadliest mining disaster so far this year. In August, 181 miners died when heavy rains flooded two mines in eastern Shandong Province.